It's time to stop fetishizing capitalism

An heiress advocates for a more democratic approach

- MARLENE ENGELHORN

CAPITALISM IS A FETISH. AND WHEN I SAY FETISH, I mean the actual definition of the word: an obsessive preoccupation or attachment; a fixation.

The word fetish is derived from the Latin factitius: imitated, opposed to the natural. And capitalism is unnatural-or human-made. Its power has been blown out of proportion precisely through the obsession, devotion, fixation through which it is regarded.

But if we rub our eyes, we can see more clearly. And we see a mess. The planet is burning, drowning, suffocating. Living standards fall continuously, millennials are screwed (never mind the following generations). Meanwhile, the five richest men in the world doubled their wealth from 2020 to 2024.

And yet, any cries for change to the system, even just for the tiniest wealth tax, remain frowned upon by those who benefit the most from capitalism. There is a blindness that comes with privilege that makes you unable to see the structures around. And that makes you unable to criticize a rotten system.